Publications by authors named "Catherine I Lindblad"
Background: Older adults may have decreased homeostatic reserve, have multiple chronic diseases, and take multiple medications. Therefore, they are at risk for adverse outcomes after receiving a drug that exacerbates a chronic disease.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to compile a list of clinically important drug-disease interactions in older adults, obtain the consensus of a multidisciplinary panel of geriatric health care professionals on these interactions, and determine the prevalence of these interactions in a sample of outpatients.
Background And Objective: Although therapeutic failure may be a common cause of drug-related morbidity in older adults, few studies have focused on this problem. The study objective was to determine the frequency and types of, and the factors associated with, therapeutic failure leading to hospitalisation in frail, elderly patients, using a new instrument named the Therapeutic Failure Questionnaire (TFQ).
Methods: The sample included 106 frail, hospitalised elderly patients enrolled in a 1-year-long health service intervention trial at 11 Veterans Affairs Medical Centres.
Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) negatively impact life quality and are sometimes fatal. This study examines the incidence and predictors of all and preventable ADRs in frail elderly persons after hospital discharge, a highly vulnerable but rarely studied population.
Methods: The design was a prospective cohort study involving 808 frail elderly persons who were discharged from 11 Veteran Affairs hospitals to outpatient care.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence and predictors of unnecessary drug use at hospital discharge in frail elderly patients.
Design: Cross-sectional.
Setting: Eleven Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
Background: Drugs can improve quality of life for many older people, but they may cause adverse health outcomes (eg, drug-disease interactions) if used inappropriately.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of potential drug-disease interactions as defined by explicit criteria and examine associations between sociodemographic and health status variables and potential drug-disease interactions.
Methods: The study design was cross-sectional.
Background: Although pharmacotherapy can be beneficial in the elderly, it can also lead to drug-related problems (DRPs), including untreated indications, drug use without an indication, improper drug selection, subtherapeutic dosage, overdosage, medication error, medication nonadherence, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, adverse drug withdrawal events, and therapeutic failure.
Objective: The goal of this article was to review evidence from randomized controlled studies to determine whether DRPs and the related health outcomes can be modified by providing clinical pharmacy services for the elderly in community-based settings.
Methods: Randomized controlled studies that assessed DRPs and health outcomes in persons aged > or =65 years after pharmacist interventions were identified through searches of MEDLINE (1970-March 2003), the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (through March 2003), and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1966-March 2003).
Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are common in older (age >or=65 years) outpatients (prevalence, 5%-35%), but there is no consensus on factors that put these patients at high risk for ADRs. Identifying a uniform set of risk factors would be helpful to develop risk models for ADRs for older outpatients and to implement targeted interventions for those patients at high risk for ADRs.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify potential risk factors for ADRs in older outpatients through a survey of geriatric experts and to determine their prevalence.
Background: Although pharmacotherapy for the elderly can treat diseases and improve well-being, its benefits can be compromised by drug-related problems.
Objective: This article reviews recent publications concerning drug-related problems in the elderly, as well as articles describing the development of 3 sets of quality indicators for medication use in the elderly.
Methods: Relevant articles were identified through a search of MEDLINE (2002-March 2003) for articles on drug-related problems, inappropriate prescribing, and adverse drug events in the elderly.
Purpose: To determine if inpatient or outpatient geriatric evaluation and management, as compared with usual care, reduces adverse drug reactions and suboptimal prescribing in frail elderly patients.
Methods: The study employed a randomized 2 x 2 factorial controlled design. Subjects were patients in 11 Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals who were > or =65 years old and met criteria for frailty (n = 834).
Background: Inappropriate prescribing in frail elderly inpatients has not received as much investigation as in frail elderly nursing home patients.
Objective: To determine the prevalence and predictors of inappropriate prescribing for hospitalized frail elderly patients.
Methods: The study was conducted at 11 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and involved a sample of 397 frail elderly inpatients.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence and predictors of antidiabetic medication use over a 10-year period in a general population of African-American and white community-dwelling elderly.
Design: Survey.
Setting: Five adjacent counties (one urban and four rural) in the Piedmont area of North Carolina.